My eyes bugged out so wide, pain shot across my temple.
“Nate, I have a chronic illness. Believe me, I wish I could snap out of it, but I can’t. You couldn’t handle that or have the decency to tell me that you weren’t committed anymore. But it’s water under the bridge that I truly couldn’t care less about.”
He stepped in front of me when I tried to leave.
“You look beautiful. Fine. This is what I mean. If you could just move past it, we could start over. I could move back in and try again—”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Heads whipped around at the loud screech in my voice. “There is no starting over or moving back in tomyhouse.”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I didn’t ask for my deposit back, so technically it’s still my house too.”
“No, it’s not. You signed it over. Aww, did your little girlfriend break up with you, and you need a place to live? What are you doing in the Bronx anyway? I thought you hatedslummingit here. Wait, you know what?” I held up a hand and shook my head. “I don’t care. Just know that I have nothing to say to you, ever. There is nothing to talk about or snap out of or house to move back in to.” I searched the bar, and the waitress was gone. Nate had ruined my nice gesture and my night.
I gave up and headed back to the dining area, hoping I could shake this off enough and not tip off Landon that something was wrong.
“Look.” Nate grabbed my arm. “I said I was sorry. You were always like this. If you want to mope around the house all by yourself, fine, but there are legal ways I can get back in or take back my deposit.”
“Get your hands off my wife!” Landon bellowed and pushed Nate against the edge of the bar. I stepped between them and leaned back into Landon to try to calm him down. His already hard body was rigid, and I could almost hear his teeth grinding from the sharp clench of his jaw.
“Your…wife?” Nate looked between us and burst out laughing. “Why am I not surprised? You were so mad about me sleeping with somebody else when you’ve been sleeping with this asshole for years. Did you think I was stupid?”
“Are you all right?” Landon asked me as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me flush to his body, neither of us denying anything Nate said. While I hadn’t slept with Landon while Nate and I were together, no matter who I was with, I’d always belonged to Landon—whether I’d known it at the time or not. I was more than ready to own it.
“I paid the check and couldn’t find you by the bathrooms, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine, babe. Sorry I disappeared, but I was regrettably detained.” I glared at Nate, biting back a smile at his eye roll when I said “babe.”
“He wants to move back in and talk, and he thinks I shouldsnapout of it all.” I turned my head to Landon, who was narrowing his eyes to slits at Nate as if he was planning to rip him apart. “I was about to tell him to go fuck himself when you showed up.”
Landon coughed out a humorless laugh. “Well, I see backup isn’t necessary since she’s already made it crystal clear to stay the fuck away. But come near my wife again and see what happens.”
Goose bumps broke out across my body as Landon seethed behind me. I didn’t know if he said “wife” for effect, but it was affecting the hell out of me.
Landon stepped to the side, his arm still around me, and loomed over Nate.
“And to think,” Nate scoffed, losing a little bravado, “yourwifecalled my girlfriend a whore when she was—”
“One more word,” Landon told him in a low, menacing voice that was hot as all hell. “And you’ll have to sip your beer through a straw because I’ll break your fucking jaw. Got it?”
Landon didn’t wait for him to answer before he pulled me past the bar and out of the side entrance, nor did he look back as he dragged me around the corner where his truck was parked. Rage emanated from every part of his body as he gripped my hand so tightly my palm was almost numb.
“Landon, stop. I know he’s an asshole, but you need to calm—”
He turned around, the heat in his eyes still burning bright under the streetlights, and backed me against the brick wall, draping his hand over my throat right under my jaw before he crashed his mouth into mine.
We’d only shared one kiss, and while it was hot enough for the memory to keep me up some nights, this kiss was not that. This was blistering heat that didn’t stop, all the buildup over weeks and probably even years pouring out of us as he hooked my leg over his hip and ground against me, his erection huge and hard against my core. Tongues tangled and teeth scraped as we pawed at each other, tasting and devouring with no relief for this hunger that we’d been so damn clueless about all this time.
“You’re mine,” he panted when we broke apart. “You belong to me as much as I belong to you.” He grazed his thumb over my swollen lips. “Say it, Jules,” he whispered, his hooded eyes searching my face as he sifted his hand into my hair, weaving his fingers around a fistful and pulling until I lifted my head.
“I’ve been trying to say it all night.” I slid my hands up his arms and grabbed his face. “I’m yours. God, we’re so stupid.”
“No kidding.” He skated his hand down the side of my hip and squeezed when he landed on my ass. “I was waiting for you to catch up, but then I saw him put his hands on you and…” He nuzzled my neck, dragging open kisses down to my collarbone and across my throat.
I fell back against the wall, lolling my head to the side as Landon devoured my neck. It was dark but not late, early enough for anyone to pass by and see us groping each other against the wall. I was about to note that when Landon shut me up with another kiss, this one even more desperate than the first.
“Please,” I begged and caught his mouth in another sloppy kiss as I rubbed my core against the hard bulge in his jeans.
“I think we need to go home before I slide my hand in between those gorgeous legs and make us both forget we’re in public. And when I peel that dress off you, your beautiful body is for my eyes only.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “Let’s go. Twenty years is a long fucking time to wait.”
